Several collaborations have been carried out in this project with intramural as well as extramural researchers on a wide range of topics. These collaborations have led to several manuscripts that are currently at various stages of publication. Some examples of collaborations are as follows. 1. Study of infant gut microbiome: In addition to the external (chemical) environment, the internal (microbial) environment plays an important role in human health. In recent years there has been considerable interest among researchers to understand the effect of microbiome on various health conditions and diseases, such as obesity, asthma, IBD, depression etc. In collaboration with researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, in this project we are trying to understand the associations between infant gut microbiome and some early childhood health outcomes. Novel statistical methods are being developed for drawing such associations. 2. Biomarkers of oxidative stress: In this study a goal was to identify a blood-based antioxidant biomarker that could serve as an in vivo indicator of oxidative stress by acutely exposing Gttingen mini pigs to the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide.